Blatherskite

Foolish gibberish

about

I am a Children’s Librarian living in the Portland, Oregon area. When I am not Children’s Librianing I like to play with cameras and film. I also like playing the ukulele, knitting, sketching, and hiking.

A poem inspired by an episode of Mad Men

July 18, 2014
Today I am going to be brave and post a poem I wrote a couple of years ago. It, seriously, was inspired by an episode of Mad Men. Go figure.

——————————————————————–

I wish I’d known that was the last time.
I would have worn my red dress
And painted my nails
And worn lipstick.
Instead I was wearing my flannel nightshirt
And my hair wasn’t just right.
Our death
Was hidden in the
Tea leaves left behind.
Signs of the future
Camouflaged in the past.
Twisted around in the present.
Around me everywhere.
I was just too blind to see.
I wish I’d know that was the last time.
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Roll 28 – Velvia and my Zero 45

July 16, 2014
In which I fall in love with slide film.

52 rolls

When we took our trip to the Oregon coast I thought I would try shooting Velvia 50 in my pinhole camera and not cross process. I had never tried shooting slide film for it’s intended purpose. So I thought I’d give it a shot. Almost the entire roll was shot on the docks of Newport Oregon, with the exception of the one at Rogue Brewery.

I love the results. I am now a slide film convert. I am not sure I can go back to regular film.

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We are swimming in a sea of goodness

July 14, 2014
On my walk to work I decided to make a right-turn into the park where vendors were setting up for the Mountain Festival this weekend. I thought it would be a good opportunity to shoot some photos with the Travelling Yashica.

I weaved my way through the hustle and bustle and started to frame a shot when I noticed someone waiting for me. I stopped what I was doing so I could wave her by but we both simultaneously realized we knew each other. It was my dear friend Emilie.

I told her a little bit about the camera and she was really delighted with the story of it and how it was now in my hands on this most auspicious of weekends. She asked if she could take my photo with the camera and I was happy to oblige. We talked a little more and then she shared a wonderful revelation she had yesterday.

She has been actively working on being complaint free for 21 days. The other night at meditation group someone mentioned that we should wear a bracelet and when we have a positive social interaction we should move the bracelet over. So she decided to try it the next day. The experiment worked too well. She found herself continually moving the bracelet over to the other wrist. It was like once she had one positive moment it snowballed and then the whole thing became unfeasible.

It made her realize that we are swimming in a sea of goodness all the time but, unfortunately, we only focus on the few bad things. Why is this? There is all of this good all around us but the few tiny bad things stand out like a spotlight.

I am so glad she took the time to share this insight with me. I have been feeling a little down and negative the past few days and our short conversation made me think about all of the things in my life that I am grateful for.
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July 12, 2014
“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” – Ernest Hemingway
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Time

July 11, 2014
“Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.”
– Pink Floyd. Time.

I have a large format pinhole camera that takes really, really wide angle shots. I have been struggling with it since I got it. I can’t quite figure out how to compose a shot, or even what the best kind of shot is for this camera. So I decided to burn film through this mutha so I can maybe learn something about how it works. I’ve spent a lot of quality time with this camera lately.

A few weeks ago I was in a “Dark Side Of The Moon” mood and listened to this album several times from beginning to end. This song, these lyrics, really stood out for me at that time. As these lyrics were rattling around in my mind I came up with the idea for this photo (this is kind of rare for me: coming up with a concept for a photo before actually taking the photo. I usually just take my camera out and see what inspires me in the moment). I was curious to see what would happen if I pinholed a clock’s arms moving around in a circle. So I tried it. My original idea was to start the photo at 11:11 (I have a thing about 11:11) and I did do that, but the shot turned out over exposed. This was the second shot and it came out better exposed.

Is this the best photo I have ever taken in my life? No. But I learned some things from it. I learned that having an theme, or an idea in your mind is a good way to get inspiration. I may kick around more photos around “time” as a theme.

I also learned that for this camera you have to get in very, very, very close. This was close and it wasn’t even close enough. Also, I like the way still life looks with this camera (using 4×5 sheet film), as opposed to landscape. I think the crazy vignetting works well with still life. So. Note to self.
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